Features:
- Adds variations of vanilla and modded solar panels that you can walk on.
Note: This mod does not create any new solar panel levels on its own. It is designed to use on top of other solar panel mods. - Panels retract when you are near them*.
- Reorders flat and base panels in the crafting menu to sort by power output.
*Note: I've done some profiling, and this has almost zero cost to UPS as its handled by the game's internal C++ wall gate logic** (more below), but does create 1 extra inactive entity per panel. This feature can be disabled in the settings.
Supports panels from the following mods:
- Advanced Solar High Resolution
- Krastorio2
- 248k
- Advanced Solar
- Bob's Power (including small and large panels)
- Big Solar Panel and Accumulator
- FactorioExtended Plus-Power
- FactorioExtended Plus-CompoundSolars
- Better Energy Production
Add a comment in the discussions if there is a mod you'd like me to add support for.
Future features:
- Visually consistent 2 and 4-panel wide panels for small and large panels from Bob's. (Currently using the same graphic, scaled down/up)
- Options to have panels at a reduced power output compared to the non-flat version.
- Defined panels, that have costs / tech that feel appropriate with overhaul mods.
- An easy way for other mods to use this as a library to add solar and flat solar panel definitions. (If you are a modder interested in this, leave a comment in discussions and I'll prioritize it.)
- Flat accumulators
Won't implement
- Disabling power output when the panels are down. (This would come at a UPS cost that I don't believe is worth it)
Profiling
Since people often create lots of solar panels, I did some profiling on massive fields of these. Non-retractable flat panels have zero impact on UPS as they don't change anything but sprites and collision zones. Retractable panels have an almost zero effect on UPS as well. This mod creates a "gate" entity -- in addition to the solar panel entity -- that acts as the graphical element of the retractable panel. Gate entities are incredibly UPS efficient and are considered "inactive" unless a player is nearby. In the inactive state, it takes up zero entity cycles as reported by show-entity-time-usage.